Chapter 105: Chapter 103: Sharky and Zachariah (1)
It was a team that could dive right into the toughest of troubles and handle most problems without issue. Their ticket to success.
"Well, since you guys are new I can\'t give you tougher quests."
Of course, things were not to go by Sharky\'s plans.
"C-come on, miss Rena. We\'re two, we can handle a tough request easy!"
"Don\'t make me call the head receptionist." Rena puffed her cheeks and the two had no choice but to shut up.
Actually, the other of the two was not speaking at all.
Just a few days back, the dive in to the Deep Down Dive had ended and adventurer Dusk had been whisked away by the manager. Every adventurer was slowly getting to work.
This was their chance to raise their ranks as much as they could, but it didn\'t seem to be going their way.
"Look, being an adventurer is not all about ranks. It\'s about survival and experience. All your strength will go in vain if you don\'t know to pick your battles."
Sharky grabbed his head.
"To get better quests, we need experience. To get experience, we need better quests. What is this, a corporate?"
Rena sighed and swiped at the teal tablet in her hand.
"There\'s one thing you guys can do. Many crops in a village out in the confederacy are getting frozen overnight. There\'s little known about the threat, but judging from the scale it seems to be something copper ranks can handle."
"Oh!" Sharky smirked. This was his chance. A strange mission with an air of mystery.
"Look, as I said, there is no certainty yet. I don\'t think it would be, but if its anything tough you retreat, got it?"
Sharky nodded and stretched his hand out.
Rena handed him the quest details on a scroll and got back to her seat.
"Take the western gate."
"Got it! Thanks!"
Sharky rushed behind to his team mate and shook him awake.
"Hey pikachu, we got a quest."
"Zzz?"
"Let\'s get a move on."
"Who are… zzz…"
It wasn\'t really a partnership completely agreed on by both sides, but that shouldn\'t be a problem now…
Probably…
***
Preparations were made quickly. Thanks to the special nature of the Deep Down Town, there was little need to worry about how they would be going to their destination.
Due to the special nature of the place, the Deep Down Town was connected to three kingdoms, belonging to none of them yet open to all of them. From the south was the Kingdom of Schwarz, the Northeast held the empire\'s connection and the north west, the forest confederacy.
The carriage driver they had found this time gave them a discount since they were freshers and let them ride for just fifteen silver.
On a trip that usually cost about 50 bronze.
It was a very good discount, Sharky was going to keep this guy\'s contact in handy for years to come.
Not long after, they were told that they had reached the distance that they could travel by carriage and had to go to the village themselves.
Trudging their way through the narrow forest path, Zachariah Arke and Sharky strolled toward the village.
"Man, the travel is so annoying…" Sharky hummed. He didn\'t want to do anything boring like this, he was hoping to swoop in, punch some bastards and take back some money.
And if it made matters any worse, his friend here who he had teamed up with for his strength was just as useless as he had thought he would be. He just kept sleeping even when they were walking together for god knows what reason or how in the same vein.
They reached the village with Sharky being a downer the entire time, but soon, he managed to get his spirits back.
The two of them met with the village head and the other villagers.
"Oh… people in line are getting upset because the farms get frozen! It\'s starting from the lake for sure, though the ice thaws the next day, it\'s little help."
"When does it happen?"
The village head shook his head. "Everyone was too scared to stake out at night. But no matter what we do it always happens! Larry living near the farms did some magic in his school in the cities, brilliant kid, he even made some kind of sparklers or something but even that did not stop the freezing."
Weak monsters and people should be scared of that stuff since they didn\'t want to be caught. It could either someone from the village, though the chances of that were next to zero, or a strong monster, or a natural phenomena.
"Wait so… we\'ll have to stake out the entire night?" Sharky muttered to himself, but it didn\'t miss the ears of the village head.
"You will? What a kind child! Thank you! Thank you!"
And so began their job as stake outers.
Hiding beneath large patches of grass and behind the trees, as soon as the moon rose up, Zachariah and Sharky found themselves peering at the lake and the fields.
Or only Sharky did, since his friend was fast asleep.
The slow start bothered Sharky, but he did not let him take him down. He just had to wait for a little and he\'ll get to swoop in and take down.
But…
As the cicadas continued their songs and the stars twinkled one too many times, Sharky\'s patience started running out.
This was getting annoying.
And his partner was just pissing him off.
There was no sign of the culprit and even then he was the only one keeping an eye out.
"Zzz…"
"Damn this," Sharky hummed. "Fucking hell man, at least try to look for the enemy!"
He grabbed Zachariah\'s collars and pulled him up.
It was then, Zachariah\'s eyes shot open and his hand fell on his sword.
He turned to the side and saw an icy mothfly fluttering out of it.
"Look, there it is."
Zachariah drew his sword and an arc of lightning fell on the icy monthly fluttering out of the lake.
Taking the chance, Sharky grinned and ran out of the trees. He was growing largely impatient, and this was his chance.
"Take this, Hand Guillotine!"